


Right There Where We Stood

by orphan_account



Category: Glee RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, First Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-08 00:17:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1919556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'There's no protocol for what to do when your friend sets you up with your ex-boyfriend/first love. I know. I've looked into it.' ~ What can you do when a love that you thought was over is suddenly offered a second chance?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Right There Where We Stood

Chris had always believed in happy endings. Fairytales, old stories, movies where the sun came out no matter how heavy the rain became, it always lit up the world again and offered up happiness. He believed that he would find his soulmate one day, get that happy ending and the whole life together afterwards. He thought he had, at the mere age of nineteen, believing that he was one of the lucky few who wouldn't search for years to find The One.

But he was wrong. That love left him, and led into a chain of disappointing, unfulfilling and heartbreaking relationships. Until, finally, he was twenty-two and feeling like nothing would work out for him, feeling like he wasn't deserving of love.

"It's probably just the misery talking," Chris says suddenly, interrupting the quiet lecture of the TV, and Lea looks over at him, eyebrow raised over the rim of her glass, "but I think I've decided that you're allowed to set me up with the guy you keep trying to sell to me." She grins, her eyes lighting up, and pauses the TV, stretching across for her phone. "Are you setting it up  _now_?"

"Sure, I've been singing your praises so much that he's ridiculously excited to meet you," Lea says, tapping at the screen of her phone. "Says you remind him of someone he knew a while ago, and it somehow comes through that he really like this person. Maybe an old boyfriend?"

"Oh sure, because it's really flattering to remind someone of someone else they dated, and to always sit with them and think 'Wow, no matter what I do the man who did it before me will always be remembered far more fondly'," Chris says sarcastically, and takes a sip of his wine. "Can I at least know his name?"

He stretches over to try and sneak a peek at Lea's phone screen, at least know the name of the man she's setting him up with, but she snatches it away and slaps her hand over the screen for good measure. "The agreement was that you wouldn't know anything about him so you could go on the date with a clear mind and an open heart. Look, I really want this to work out for you. I want you to find someone nice, someone you'll be able to go on fishing trips with when I marry you, like in  _Brokeback Mountain_." She grins, and Chris just rolls his eyes. "I know you'll like him. He's a big nerd, just like you."

By the time she was finished, with the secrecy and the quick glances at Chris to make sure he wasn't trying to find out anything about his blind date, Chris had a date for the first time in a few months, waiting for him at precisely seven thirty the following night, a simple dinner just to gauge how they might get on, whether this really could become a serious relationship. Changing his clothes and leaving, Chris couldn't help but let his heart fill with hope that it would, that this would be the connection he was looking for, a great love.

Lea had told him that the man he was meeting would be wearing a green shirt and sitting at a table with yellow flowers, and through the crowd Chris manages to see a sliver of green, and carefully puts on his best smile before he crosses the room, taking a glass of water from the tray set out for guests and preparing to turn on the charm and try to impress the man Lea handpicked for him.

He almost drops his glass when the vague familiarity of the man waiting suddenly strikes him like a bolt of lightning, and he lets out a quiet, high-pitched noise of shock. Will turns at the noise, smiling softly in that way that still melts Chris' heart a little, the way he always used to whenever Chris said something particularly sweet or did something particularly adorable - which, seemingly, was everything and anything he said or did - and his eyes go wide when he sees Chris. "Are you..."

"Oh, great," Chris says, setting his glass down on the table hard, determinedly not letting any temptation to cry break through the glassy, hard anger. "This is just great. The first date I have in months, the date that I hoped might lead to something more, with the man one of my closest friends handpicked for me, is a set-up with my ex-boyfriend. The jerk who broke my heart. Yep, this is fantastic."

" _Chris_ -"

"Don't you ' _Chris_ ' me," Chris snaps, and turns on his heel to walk straight back out of the restaurant. He hears the footsteps behind him, but doesn't stop walking or turn his head or acknowledge in any way that his ex-boyfriend, the absolute  _jerk_  who hurt him with his stupid fruitless frivolous words, is following him, calling his name like a mother bird calling for her chicks. "Leave me alone, Will!"

"Please, just give me a chance to explain!" Will calls, and with a burst of speed, manages to catch up to Chris before he can get into his car, grabbing him around the wrist to hold him back. "I didn't know, okay, I didn't know your name, that was Lea's condition. Does she even know that we dated? It wasn't for very long, I mean..."

"It was a whole year of my life!" Chris spits, tugging his arm out of Will's grip. "A whole damn year I spent with you, falling in love with you, and then you blew me off with some bullshit excuse about not being ready for any long-term commitment. Last time I checked, a year was a long-term commitment!"

"I never wanted to hurt you," Will insists, as Chris turns his face away and yanks the car door open, climbing in with a scowl on his face. "Honestly, Chris, our break-up was good for both of us in the long run. It was hard for me too, I really did love-"

"Goodbye, Will," Chris snarls, more aggressively than he can ever remember sounding, and presses down on the accelerator to get away, faster and faster until he pulls into the side of the road and leans his head on the steering wheel, slowly breathing in and out and swallowing back the sadness that wants to swell out.

"How could you not remember him?!" Chris exclaims loudly, unscrewing the cap from his water bottle as Lea stretches out her legs and opens the fridge for a smoothie. "I dated him for a year and then he broke my heart! Don't you remember all those post break-up counselling sessions?!"

"I'm sorry, okay, I only met him a few times while you were together and I meet a lot of people," Lea says with an apologetic shrug. "I really didn't mean to set you up on a blind date with your ex-boyfriend, but I met him a few times at events and things and he seemed so nice and right for you."

"He was," Chris says softly, avoiding eye contact with her. "He was sweet and nice and loving. And I thought he was the one, the great love of my life, my happy ending. But it went wrong, and I shouldn't keep letting it get to me."

"Oh, you're not going to let it get to you any more?" Lea asks, her gaze shifting away from Chris'. "That's great, because we're going for pizza, and I invited him along." When Chris huffs indignantly and turns away from her, she insists, "You need closure, Chris. After the break-up, you just cut off all contact with him, you never tried to sort things out or have a mature discussion. It just ended, and relationships don't work like that. You can't just turn feelings off. Maybe that's why things haven't worked out for you romantically."

"Don't try to give me therapy, Lea, I haven't been self-sabotaging myself romantically for two years," Chris snaps. "Can I use your shower? If you're going to force me to befriend my ex-boyfriend I should at least be able to remind him what he's missing out on." She shakes her head fondly and points upstairs with a smile.

Lunch is bearably awkward with the three of them, Lea carrying on the conversation to stop it from falling into sharp silences heavy with unsaid words, but when she leaves the quiet is absolutely deafening. Chris eventually speaks first. "I just want to apologise for my behaviour the other night. I wasn't acting like an adult, and I shouldn't have left you to pay the bill."

"It's fine, water and bread didn't cost very much," Will says, and Chris can't help a soft laugh that's mostly breath. He'd forgotten so much of the great things about Will in the intervening years since their break-up, turning him into some caricature in his mind, pushing away all the lingering feelings and the memories tinted bright with joy, leaving behind only memories of fights and threats of a break-up and the way that love made him cry and break in a way nothing else ever had.

But the man sitting in front of him isn't a dark shadow, a man he was warned as a teenager to stay away from, the one who would steal his heart for his collection and crush it into pieces. Will is warm and funny and charming, and has a smile that's for Chris and Chris alone, and makes jokes to lighten the tension and doesn't pull him up for his immature behaviour and is, seemingly, far more willing than Chris to try and make amends and fix the rift that's yawned open between them. "I've missed you." The words spill from Chris' mouth before he can stop them, but he doesn't regret them as he hears them. They're the truth - so many nights he thought about it, wished he hadn't deleted Will's number even when Ashley insisted it would therapeutic, hoping for a miracle of a way to get in touch with him and hear that voice again.

"I've missed you too," Will says, and tentatively reaches across the table to cover Chris' hand with his. He flinches at the touch, the warmth of Will's fingers sending him back to quiet nights in a cramped apartment, to a hand sliding into his pocket in public, subtle fingers brushing his arm or leg or back and escaping the notice of the cameras, but he doesn't pull away. "We were so much more than boyfriends. I loved you as a friend too, and it was so hard to lose that when we broke up. I wish we could've stayed friends."

"Yeah, well, exes can't be friend when the wound is that fresh," Chris says airily, brushing the issue off as if it's nothing, even though his heart is screaming that it sounds like regret in Will's voice, that he wishes they'd never broken up, that maybe it was a mistake or a second of misjudgement.

"What about two years later?" Will asks, and there is definite hope in his voice and his bright eyes. "When time's passed? When both parties have moved on and dated other people and had some fun? Can exes be friends then?" He lowers his voice and adds, "Because I miss you so much, and you're sitting here with me, and we could be friends. I want to be friends again."

Staring into Will's eyes, the eyes that used to be bright with adoration every time they alighted on him, the eyes he gazed into as he whispered those three words and a million more, unending devotion and promises of forever, Chris manages a slightly quivering smile. "I'd love to be friends again," he says softly, and stretches out to squeeze Will's forearm. And he determinedly doesn't notice that Will's gotten bigger since they last saw each other, with wide shoulders and stronger arms that look like they could hold him as tight as he wants.

"Awesome!" Will says, and he looks so young for a moment that Chris can't help but smile at him, almost sighing with affection for him. And as Will smiles at him again, making his knees melt and his heart beat a little faster and his cheeks heat up with a slight blush, he groans internally and shuts his eyes for a moment, refraining from banging his head off the edge of the table. He is so incredibly  _screwed_.

* * *

**To: Ashley**

**You'll never guess who I got back! Lea reintroduced me to Will!**

**From: Ashley**

**You must be kidding! Look, maybe you don't remember how upset you were when that jerk ripped your heart out, but I do. It was a shitty thing to do and I don't think you should reconnect with him.**

**To: Ashley**

**Lea thinks I need closure, and honestly the more time I spend with him the more I realise how much I missed him when I didn't have him.**

**From: Ashley**

**Oh my God, you're spending time with him? How much?**

**To: Ashley**

**Not THAT much. Just the occasional lunch and some movie nights at my place. With popcorn, but we don't even touch or talk that much. We watch the movie.**

**From: Ashley**

**Right, I forgot, you guys are just as nerdy as each other. Dammit, that is so many points in his favour.**

**To: Ashley**

**RIGHT?! Anyway, Lea just asked if I want to go to the beach before we have to go back to work and if I want to invite him. Should I?**

**From: Ashley**

**Come on, Chris, you know I don't like to interfere in other people's love lives. Somehow they always get pissed no matter the result of my advice. You'll have to decide how involved you want your ex-boyfriend to be in your life, not me.**

**To: Ashley**

**Fine, I'll just ask Lea.**

**From: Ashley**

**Knew you'd say that.**

**To: Will**

**Hey, do you want to come to the beach with a group this weekend? We have to go back to work next week, so this is our last summer hurrah. It's no big deal if you can't come.**

**From: Will**

**I wouldn't miss it for the world ;)**

**To: Ashley**

' **I wouldn't miss it for the world ;)' DOES THAT SOUND LIKE SOMETHING A FRIEND WOULD SAY? AND LOOK! LOOK AT THE SMILEY! HE MADE IT SUGGESTIVE!**

**From: Ashley**

**Can I offer you some advice?**

**To: Ashley**

**YES!**

**From: Ashley**

**Jesus, I didn't expect that level of enthusiasm.**

**To: Ashley**

**There's no protocol for what to do when your friend sets you up with your ex-boyfriend/first love. I know. I've looked into it.**

**From: Ashley**

**That man wants to move back into a romantic relationship, and you need to resist. I don't care how hot he's gotten in the last two years, since the damn man just seems to get better with age, you will just have to suck it up and hold in your urges. Getting involved with your ex is just such a bad idea.**

**To: Ashley**

**Thank you for the sage advice, I hadn't even considered all the cons of it.**

**From: Ashley**

**It's what I'm here for ;) Besides, what possible pros are there?**

**To: Ashley**

**Well, Will is sweet and gentle and funny and loving and adorable and sexy and he makes me feel like someone who deserves all of it. We were only together for a year, but it was the best year of my life, because I spent it with him and I loved him so much. And he loved me.**

**From: Ashley**

**You still love him.**

**From: Ashley**

**It's official, you are the biggest idiot when it comes to your love life. Even if you can recite British monarchs from William the Conqueror onwards. Book smarts don't mean street smarts. And by street I mean life. It's common sense: DON'T TRY TO GET BACK WITH YOUR EX, IT ALWAYS ENDS BADLY! And I don't need to point out to you that TV shows where it's a happily ever after aren't real.**

**To: Ashley**

**I KNOW! You think I haven't though about all of that? But I can't help how I feel, okay? Lea was right, you can't just turn feelings on and off. This isn't giving me closure at all, all it's doing is making me realise I still feel the same way. Help?**

**From: Ashley**

**Nope, I got nothing. If I think of a plan, I'll let you know.**

* * *

"When I write the guide to navigating the field of getting over someone you loved, I'm going to put not going to the beach with them as a top tip, in capitals, surrounded by bright red warnings," Chris says, and Lea pushes her sunglasses up her nose to look at him with raised eyebrows. "This was a terrible idea and I place the blame entirely on you."

"I said you could invite him, I didn't tell you you had to," she says, and lies back down on their blankets, sunglasses covering her eyes. "Besides, you don't have to ogle him all day. Go for a swim, clear your head. This is our last day out before work starts again, enjoy it and stop torturing yourself about your feelings for your ex."

Staring out at the sea, watching Will jogging along the damp sand at the water's edge, Chris resignedly says, "You offered me closure, and I'm not getting it. The more I try to become friends with him and let him back into my life, the more I...well, let's just say I'm remembering all the reasons I was so upset when he broke up with me in the first place. I can't force myself to remember the bad things when he's right here and reminding me of all the wonderful things we had."

Lea doesn't answer, and with her sunglasses down he can't look at her eyes for a reply, so he sighs and climbs to his feet, hurrying to the water and plunging into the sharply cold waves, swimming away from the shore and away from his feelings, leaving them all in a pile on the sand and letting them fade away into the ebb and flow of the tide. He doesn't still have lingering feelings for Will, those faded away months ago, when he was hurt and angry and just wanted to be over him. Allowing him back into his life is offering him a privilege, a chance to reconnect as friends, and it doesn't have to mean love blooming again or latent sexual feelings boiling to the surface. Of course he doesn't want  _sex_  with Will.

Floating on the rocking waves, toes poking out above the water, he hears the water splashing and forces himself upright, brushing his wet hair out of his eyes, and smiles helplessly when he sees Will swimming towards him. He lets his eyes follow the path of a drop of water down the side of Will's face, sliding down his neck and over his shoulder and his chest, and jerks his gaze back up when Will says, "You looked very philosophical out here. Penny for your thoughts?"

"Just thinking about lines. Plot points. Projects and such," Chris says, animating his voice so he doesn't sound monotonous and lying. "My thoughts are really quite boring, and full of work. You don't need to pretend to be interested."

"I'm not pretending," Will says, and swims up closer, reaching out tentatively beneath the water to take Chris' hand and pull him closer. "I've always been interested in your work, don't you remember? As I understand it, you're even more successful now than you were two years ago." The smile that's only ever been for Chris graces Will's face as he says, "You deserve every bit of it."

Smiling softly, Chris squeezes Will's hand under the water, and Will's eyes are bright as they move closer, legs brushing together beneath the waves. Will's gaze flickers down to his lips, and Chris can feel the blush creeping up his neck, the desire building just beneath his skin, and he steps even closer, anchoring his fingers between Will's. Two years and hours of crying and equal hours of trying to move on, but his feelings still exist, somewhere between love and hate, no way to tell on what side of that thin line they fall. And all he wants, in this moment, is one kiss.

"Just..." Their foreheads touch, leaning against each other, into each other, and Chris' breathing is coming harder every moment, chest heaving as Will's hands trace up to his waist, pulling him closer. "Uhm...just..."

"Chris!" The shrill call interrupts the moment, and Chris immediately steps back from Will, turning around to see Lea waving from the shore. "Come on, we finally got the barbecue working! Time for a late lunch!"

Chris doesn't say a word before he wheels away from Will, swimming as fast as he can back to the shore and splashing himself with the water to calm the flush in his cheeks. It doesn't matter that he almost kissed Will, because he  _didn't_ , and that's fine. He didn't screw up, he didn't complicate his love life, and it really doesn't matter that he was tempted. As long as he doesn't act on the temptations, it's going to be  _fine_.

* * *

**From: Will**

**We need to talk about what happened today.**

**To: Will**

**No we don't.**

**From: Will**

**Yes we do. I mean, we came *this close* to kissing, and if we hadn't been stopped who knows how far it might have gone? I've missed you. A lot. I've missed your physical qualities.**

**To: Will**

**So you're saying that all of that was just based on latent sexual attraction? I can deal with that, I can push it away, it's not hard. I can resist temptation, and you'll have to too. If we acted on it, everything would be screwed up.**

**From: Will**

**That didn't feel like just physical attraction. Not to me. I think I might still have feelings for you. Do you still feel the same?**

**To: Will**

**No. Absolutely not. Why would you even think that? It's been two years since we broke up, two years of me seeing other men. You broke my heart, and after the mourning period I decided to just get over you and move on. I don't have feelings for you any more. I want to be just friends, but if you can't handle that then maybe we should end this altogether.**

**From: Will**

**No, I promise, I can handle it. You are an amazing person, and I want you in my life in whatever capacity you are comfortable being there. Anyway, maybe it's all in my head. Really, there's no way to know.**

**To: Will**

**Are you sure you want to stay friends? Isn't that maybe too big a commitment for you?**

**From: Will**

**I'm sorry that I broke up with you because I couldn't handle a long-term commitment. I'd never been in such a serious relationship before, and suddenly the future looked like wedding bells and rings and lifelong promises and I got scared, okay? I'm still sorry that I hurt you, and I regret it every single day.**

**To: Will**

**I got over it a long time ago. I had to forget about you and move on. But you did break my heart.**

**From: Will**

**We shouldn't keep talking about this. It's just going to bring up all this stuff we put away a long time ago for a very good reason, and it's going to affect our friendship. I don't want to look at you and constantly feel like you're still upset with me over that.**

**To: Will**

**You're right, you're right. I'm sorry. I'll stop bringing it up. I really do want us to be friends.**

**From: Will**

**Me too.**

* * *

"You said you'd be there!" Chris yelps as Lea walks out of the door. "You promised! It's still awkward between me and him, I need you there to keep the conversation going!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't blow this meeting off for a movie night," Lea says, fussing with her clothes. "If I'm not there, maybe you two can finally start to work off some of the awkwardness, get your shit together." With a reassuring smile, she says, "It's been two months since you reconnected. You're friends again. It'll be fine, trust me." Reaching up to kiss Chris' cheek, she says, "I'll be over at eight tomorrow morning to go for a run together. Don't start without me."

Forcing a smile, Chris watches her drive away with dread settling in his blood. Despite all his insistence of the opposite to Will, he does still have feelings for him. The more time they spend together, the more he remembers the love that came almost immediately, the way he felt about Will and just how much and how deeply he felt. And an evening alone with him does not seem like a good idea at this delicate stage of their relationship.

Will arrives with a bottle of wine and a grin, and Chris softly says, "It's just the two of us tonight. Lea had a prior engagement." He knows he's not imagining the new brightness in Will's eyes at the prospect of an evening for just the two of them, and Chris is almost too hasty to add, "It's not a date."

"No, of course not," Will says, blustery and with fake casualness. "Just two friends hanging out, talking and drinking." Pulling down two glasses, Chris practically snatches the bottle from Will's hand to fill them up, just to have something to do with his hands and mouth that isn't putting them all over Will's body. He somehow looks even more delicious than usual, shirt tight across his chest and so handsome.

The film is half-finished and Chris is refilling their glasses when Will suddenly says, "I've never been able to get that night out of my head. The way you looked when I told you it was over. I can still remember the exact moment that I saw your heart break on your face, and in your eyes."

"Will, we don't need to talk about this," Chris says hastily. "Can't we just have a normal night as friends? I don't want to talk about the past or the break-up or anything other than this movie and this wine and this night. This...this isn't what I want."

"I lied to you, when we broke up," Will says, and Chris goes cold. "I told you I wasn't ready for a long-term commitment. But I was. The first time I asked you out, I was prepared to commit. I was twenty-seven, for God's sake, I wanted to settle down."

"Please don't tell me you cheated on me," Chris says, and he can hear the desperation in his own voice, and it's embarrassing. "The fact that I won a Golden Globe is still tainted because you broke up with me a week later, don't make it worse by telling me you cheated on me. I know I was young and I wanted to stay free for a while, but I loved you and I thought that was enough, I-"

"I promise, I didn't cheat on you,," Will says, and he sounds so honest that Chris immediately believes him. "I loved you so much, I would never do that to you. But I remember sitting alone at my place, watching you win that award. Seeing the whole world love you. And I realised that I would never be good enough for you."

"What?" Tilting his head in confusion, Chris sets his glass down and takes Will's hands in his when he sees the sheen of tears in his eyes. "I don't understand. Why would you think that?"

"Because you were already being coined as the breakout star when we met, and I know you've only gotten more and more successful and amazing since we broke up," Will says, and he sounds so heartbroken that tears rise in Chris' throat. "I wasn't ever going to be the guy you would take to the red carpet. I was just normal, no one would know me, they'd all ask who I was and I could just see the headlines. See them all saying that you were dating a man so desperate he settled for someone eight years younger."

"None of that ever bothered me!" Chris insists, and his voice rises as he argues with Will's strange point of view, how clear everything is suddenly becoming. "You broke up with me because you didn't think you were good enough? People were throwing themselves at me, but I rejected every single one because I loved you. I wanted you, and you know the age difference never mattered to me. Age is just a number."

"That's easy for you to say," Will says, and there's a note of bitterness in his voice. "You were nineteen when we met, Chris. You were still a teenager. Can you even understand how that made me feel? To fall in love with someone who couldn't even drink yet? I...I still feel like that about you, and I'm almost thirty. I love you so much, and I still regret ever ending it with you with everything I have, and I'm so sorry that I broke your heart. I know I don't deserve a second chance, but maybe it was fate that Lea set us up. Maybe it was our second chance."

Biting his lip, Chris leaves his hands in Will's as he chews and licks and thinks. He used to think that Will was his fairytale, his Prince Charming, the happily ever after he wanted. But then Will left, and he knew that life truly wasn't a fairytale, that not even love could be true. But this... "This  _is_  our second chance," he says softly. "I love you too."

Their lips meet, and Chris reaches blindly down for the remote to turn off the TV, fingers knocking against their wine glasses as they kiss desperately, hard and deep and frantic, Will's hand sliding up the inside of Chris' thigh, and Chris' finer reaching out and working frantically at the buttons of Will's shirt. "Oh God, I've missed you," Will breathes against Chris' ear, kissing down his neck and finding that sweet spot, the one that just flicks a switch and makes Chris' brain just switch off other than that small piece that focuses entirely on sex. "You are stunning. You've grown."

"So my fans say," Chris pants, and groans breathlessly as Will tugs at his shirt and kisses his shoulders, down his chest and his hardened nipples. "Come on, let's go to bed." His fingers curl into Will's hair, arms wrapped tight around his neck, and it's with their lips still clumsily pressed together that they stumble to the bedroom, locked in each other's arms and the thrill of a reunion, the excitement of being together after so long.

It's so sudden, and so unexpected, but it's so incredibly passionate. Will kisses him like he's been saving up all his love for the entire two years they've spent apart, whispering into his damp skin and painting promises into him with every gentle touch of his tender hands. He undresses Chris like he's something special, so careful and treasuring, kissing every inch of newly revealed skin. Kisses and kisses, teeth and tongue and roaming hands.

"Do you remember the last time?" Will breathes into Chris' ear between kisses, and the warmth of his breath makes Chris shiver. "After you won that award, when you came to see me after the party. You were still high on adrenaline, excited and smiling, and even though I thought it might be time to bring it all to an end, I wanted to be with you that night. You were so hot and drenched in sweat and desperate for it. You've never been hotter." Pushing Chris' knees apart, he kisses slowly up the soft, sensitive skin on the inside of his thighs, and murmurs, "Although right here might slide into first."

Tilting his hips up against Will's weight, Chris whines softly and reaches over to the nightstand, rummaging about in the top drawer for a condom and the half-full bottle of lube, dropping both on the bed next to them. "I'm sure," he says, before Will can ask the question. "I want this, you and me, tonight. Always."

Will makes love to him, not fucking or mere sex, but love-making, sweet and slow, kissing him with every thrust. It's perfect, just the two of them wrapped up in each other, holding each other, and Will just holds him and kisses him and whispers, "I love you," over and over again. It finishes in crests of pleasure, and Will rolls off him and slides under the blankets with Chris, taking his hand and kissing his sweat-shiny shoulder. "I love you so much," he breathes.

"I love you too," Chris replies in a soft sigh, and squeezes Will's hand under the covers, leaning over to kiss him. "Is this...it? Us? Together again?"

"Of course it is," Will says, a soft smile on his face in the dim light of the bedroom. "Oh my God, of course it is. I love you, and I want to be with you." Another kiss, another whispered promise, and they drift, falling asleep in bed, curled up to each other.

* * *

Chris is jerked awake by a knock at the door, and starts to scramble out of bed when a hand grasps around his wrist. "Don't, stay in bed with me," Will insists, and Chris rolls his eyes fondly. "Come on, babe, leave it."

"It's Lea, I have to answer it and put her off the scent of us," Chris says softly, and smiles into a kiss. "I'll be right back, okay, let me get rid of her." Rolling out of bed after one more kiss - or five more - he wraps his robe around himself and pads out in his bare feet to open the door.

Lea steps into the house the second the door is open, already talking: "So I know we said we'd go running but I went last night instead so I thought I'd just bring breakfast over and we can hang out here." Finally she turns around, and immediately adds, "Sorry, did I wake you? I thought you'd be up, working on that book."

"Could we maybe do this tomorrow instead?" Chris asks, trying to think of a believable reason for wanting to postpone a breakfast date that isn't  _I got back together with my ex last night and spent the night in bed with him_. "This is kind of a bad time. I was planning to work out some plot stuff today."

"Do you have company?" Lea asks, smirking knowingly. "Come on, I know what you look like the morning after. Who was it? What's he like? He must be pretty special for you to have let him stay the night."

Trying not to smile at how  _special_  the man in his bed really is, Chris opens his mouth to tell a hopefully convincing lie when the door to his room opens and Will steps out, yawning and wearing one of Chris' shirts, sending a pleasant thrill down into his belly. "Morning, Lea," he says with a lazy grin, and Lea stares between them with wide eyes. Will notices Chris' admonishing look, and says, "There's no point in hiding it. I'm happy to be with you again, and I don't care who knows it."

"What happened to closure?!" Lea asks shrilly, and Chris just smiles at her, welcoming Will's arm winding around his waist and a kiss brushed against his cheek. "I thought you wanted to be friends."

"Friends, and more," Chris says, and feels Will laugh against his back. "Lea, I love him, and this is it. We're staying together for the foreseeable future. No break-ups, no broken hearts."

Looking at them again, Lea finally smiles. "Then I guess now would be a good time to tell you that I set you up deliberately. Of course I remembered that you used to date, and I remember exactly how loving that relationship always looked to me. I wanted to see if it would work out if you were given a second chance. And, clearly, it did." She winks and turns on her heel to go into the kitchen. "Now, let's have breakfast together like I planned. I've got enough for three."

Shaking his head incredulously at her, Chris smiles when Will kisses his cheek again and murmurs, "She's a sneaky little shit, but I can't help but be grateful. I love you."

"Love you too."

* * *

Second chances really are a blessing. The love that was between them two years ago is still as strong as it was the first time they looked each other in the eye and said those words, exchanging sweet kisses. It's only a matter of months before Will moves in, and then when they find a new place together. To start opening the door on their relationship to the world, thrilling every time the media highlights Will as a  _partner_  or  _boyfriend_ , smirking when they define him as a nameless friend.

Time flies, and they've been together for three years. Living together for almost two. Had their first pet that was really theirs for a year. It's New Year's Eve, and they're at a party with all of their friends milling around their apartment, fussing over a purring Brian and tail-wagging Cooper, who are both ridiculously excited that a party means food.

Clinking his glass against Will's, Chris lifts his feet up onto the table as someone starts to countdown to midnight, starting at "Three hundred!" as the clock hand hits five to twelve. Cooper wanders over to them, tail going in circles like helicopter blades, and proudly deposits a wrapped square in Will's lap, sitting back on his haunches with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his  _Didn't I do good, Dad?_  look on his face. "What's that, puppy?" Chris coos, and Cooper's tail wags even harder. "What is it, huh?"

Will takes Chris' hand and smiles, the other hand quickly shelling the parcel open. It's a small blue box, a familiar one, and Chris' jaw goes slack suddenly. "Will..."

"Chris, we've been together for three years now," Will says, and of course this is it, of course this is a proposal. They've talked about it, of course, talked about the fact that they see each other in their futures, talked about the idea of marriage. But not once did he ever think that there was a proposal coming, nor plan his own. "I was an idiot to let you go once, and I will always be grateful that we got a second chance. In fairytales, they have one kiss, one chance to make it happily ever after. But I got to fall in love with you all over again, much faster, and I can't imagine my future without you and our family in it. So..." He opens the box, smiling encouragingly, "will you marry me?"

Standing up from the couch, Chris squeezes Will's hand tight in his and drags him through the throng, out onto the small balcony, the night air cool on his overheated skin. "I was going to base a character on you, once," he says, casually, as if his boyfriend didn't just propose to him. "A man who was once loved, but left because he wasn't brave enough for true love."

"That's fine, Chris, but I need an answer to my question now," Will says, looking anxious and shifting from foot to foot, still clutching the box like a lifeline. "Yes or no?"

"But then you came back, and I never did write that character," Chris says with a shrug. "But whenever I thought about Prince Charming, about the one man who loved his princess with everything he had, I thought about you. You're my prince."

The countdown gets louder and louder as the seconds tick down to midnight, and Will moves closer. "So...is that a-"

"Yes." And midnight strikes, and the fireworks explode overhead, and as Will smiles and they move into a kiss, the ring finds its new home on Chris' finger, and the new year begins with an engagement.

With a happily ever after.


End file.
